A new friend
by Lotus of Konoha
Summary: All is going as usual for Aang and his friends, when a new friend appears one morning. Claiming to be another Avatar, no less. What does this mean? What will happen to Aang now? When will Sokka wake up? Enh, I don't even know the answer to the last one...
1. Chapter 1

**Yay for my first ever fanfiction! As this is my first attempt, please don't flame me. If the characters are a little OOC, I apologize, but I tried.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar. I wish I owned Avatar.**

CHAPTER 1: The good old days

"Aang! Watch out!" The high voice of Sokka screamed. Once again, they were on the run again from the fire nation. Well, on the fly, anyway.

Another fireball whizzed past, singeing Appa's fur. That was it for the first wave, but rest assured, there was plenty more on the way. They were running from a sizeable amount of fire nation troops, equipped with tanks and all sorts of other war machines.

"Aang, we have to get to a shelter or hiding place of some kind, or else we'll never be able to lose these soldiers." A softer voice this time, from Sokka's sister, Katara. _Katara. _Just thinking her name made Aang blush. Good thing for him, he was in the front and his face couldn't be seen.

"Yeah Twinkle toes, not to mention we have to get some sleep eventually! I'm tired!" A smaller voice this time, but with such a commanding presence that it made Aang think over his options again even though he had already thought them through quite a bit in the last half hour. After all, hundreds upon hundreds of fireballs had been flying past their ears for the past 30 minutes, growing excruciatingly closer to hitting them with each throw.

He was running out of options… it was growing darker by the minute, and he knew that even though the fire nation wouldn't stop, it didn't mean that they wouldn't. They could only hold out for so much longer… they were all exhausted, and Appa was starting to drift at a downward angle instead of his usual upwards one. He wouldn't last another hour of this dodging and weaving.

There was a small mountain range a little bit to their left, but it didn't seem like it offered much protection from the fire nation's war machines. Still, it was their only shot at getting a peaceful night's sleep. Aang considered it for a couple of seconds, then decided.

"All right, we're going to try and find a cave in that mountain range. If we can't, then we'll just have to risk staying in the forest for the night." Aang thought he had explained his plan quite well.

"Aren't we forgetting our resident earthbender? Eh, Twinkle toes?" Toph said in a very irritated tone. "I can make us a cave anywhere on that mountain."

Aang blushed again. "Ok, fine. Let's go then."

They flew straight towards the mountain, making no false moves to try and fool the fire nation. It wouldn't work anyway, at least not for long. But they could get their night of peaceful sleep, at least for everybody except Aang. He hadn't been sleeping so well lately. He had been having bad dreams. Well, not _bad_ dreams, but dreams to disrupt his sleep when his responsible side began to take over and see what his impulsive side was dreaming about… _Katara._ Her name kept flashing through his mind, and he couldn't stop it, no matter how hard he tried. As if he wanted it to stop… he blushed again.

"HEY TWINKLE TOES! LAND ALREADY!" Toph was sounding angry. Toph angry plus Aang distracted equaled an injured Aang, so he landed Appa on a clearing of rock near a cliff in the mountainside. Toph 'looked' around for a little while, and then began to walk towards the wall. She stopped just before it, and stomped her foot into the ground, like an angry child. A round hole appeared, leading deep into the cliff. "Come on in, it's safe enough." Toph said when she noticed that her friends hadn't yet started to move towards the cave. They were all preoccupied. Aang with staring at Katara distractedly, Katara with staring into the sky at the smoke created by the firebenders, and Sokka staring at the very small amount of meat left in his pack.

"Huh?" Three voices sounded in unison. They all looked away from the prospective staring places, and began to walk towards the cave, with Aang bringing up the rear with Appa.

They made camp in the cave, and Aang volunteered to be the first watch. "But you've been watching us every night for the past two weeks, Aang." Katara was duely concerned. "Don't you think somebody else should take a turn, like maybe Sokka?" Sokka was already snoring in his sleeping bag. "Well, maybe not Sokka… but definitely not you all of the time!"

Aang looked at Katara for a few seconds before saying, "I know. But I don't sleep that well anyway, so no problems there. Besides," He flashed his characteristic grin, "Momo helps me every time."

Katara laughed before walking over to her sleeping bag. "all right, but wake me up at midnight. I want to take over for the second watch."

Aang looked at her with a little bit of a concerned look in his eye. "If I don't lose track of the time."

Toph sighed, and went to sleep on her rock. _Those two are helpless sometimes._

And they all went to sleep for the night, except for Aang, afraid to go to sleep again because of his dreams…


	2. Chapter 2

**Yay for my first ever fanfiction! As this is my first attempt, please don't flame me. If the characters are a little OOC, don't blame me, I tried.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar. I wish I owned Avatar.**

CHAPTER 2: A new friend?

SNORE

Aang was asleep. Despite his best attempts to stay awake and keep watch over his friends, he had fallen asleep. Well, at least he had stayed up until 4 AM. The fire nation was asleep by then. So he had stopped being so alert, and eventually, sleep had claimed him. And he was dreaming again. _Katara._ She had slid her way into his dreams again, and his impulsive side began to take over. Again.

---DREAM---

He was older. So was she. That much was for certain. He looked down to see what he was wearing this time. A ceremonial robe? But people only wore those when they were about to get… _Oh God._ _I'm about to get married to Katara! Wonder how she looks in that dress…_

He opened his eyes. And then he looked down. She was wearing a beautiful white gown with blue accents at the ends, in shapes suggesting that it was water. Her hair was let down, and fell in a cascade over her shoulders and back.

_Whoa, she looks beautiful. Wait a minute, what am I THINKING?! _His responsible side again. _This has got to STOP and it has got to stop NOW._

He forced himself out of the dream world, and into the real one.

---REAL LIFE---

"HI!"

Aang's eyes were open, but he wasn't believing what he was seeing. There was a boy, about a year older than he was, looking at him with his face no more than an inch away. All Aang could see was the boy's eyes, two round orbs of turquoise with a small circle of black in the middle.

"GU---" Aang was cut off by the intruder, who had smacked his hand into Aang's mouth. "SHH, you'll wake the others. I need to talk to you alone." And with that, he picked him up, (With no apparent effort) and carried him out of the cave.

Aang was plopped down on a rock about the size of a bed. "Now, first things first. My name is Yin, what's yours?" The intruder looked at him quizzically. Aang managed to blurt out, "Aang. My name's Aang." Yin's eyes widened in shock. "Wait, Aang… I've heard that name before! But where…" Aang finally saw an opportunity to show his superiority, and said with glee, "I'm the Avatar, the one, and only, Avatar."

Yin's eyes narrowed into slits. "Yes, that's where I've heard of you, but DON'T go thinking that you are the only Avatar." Aang was surprised beyond belief, and obviously very confused. "What is that supposed to mean? I am the only Avatar, aren't I? I'm the only one who can master the four elements and stop the Fire Nation, right?" Yin seemed to become only angrier. "NO! You aren't the only one capable of mastering all four elements! Now just shut up!" Aang shut up. But not for long. He blurted out a few seconds later, "but that's impossible! How could anyone else learn them?"

Yin looked at Aang for a long time, for what seemed like hours, but was actually only about a minute. "Fine. I'll tell you the story. It's a long one, though, so make yourself comfortable." Aang complied by bringing his foot down on the rock to make it into two separate chair-shaped rocks. Aang sat in his, and waited for the story to begin patiently. Yin sighed before continuing, "You have been gone for 100 years, Aang. In that time, much has changed. The Fire nation has spread, destroying everything in its path. The Water tribes have gone into hiding and seclusion, the Air nomads are all but eliminated, and only the Earth Kingdom holds onto its former glory. But they know that it cannot last. So the Earth Kingdom began to… experiment. About trying to make the Avatar appear again. The first attempts were… failures, to say the least. Holding more than one bending style in their minds made most subjects go insane. It even outright killed a couple. About 50 years ago, though, there was a breakthrough. What about interbreeding from more than one bending style? An earthbender wife with a firebender husband, for instance. The result would be a possibility of a child being able to earthbend and firebend. Add in another 2 generations, and there you go! One ready to serve Avatar. The only problem was, there were now no Air Nomads left. But somehow, they managed to find one. A crippled old man, but still an Air Nomad. And so, I was born. After I was born, the Nomad died, and I was the new, artificially created Avatar. But then, YOU revealed yourself, and they told me that 'my services were no longer required'. They threw me out. Even my own mother threw me out. I was alone. Completely alone. So now I travel around, in search of answers about you. Lucky of me to find you, wasn't it?"

Aang was awestruck. To think, the Earth Kingdom would do such a cruel thing… "I don't believe you. I don't believe that would be done by the Earth Kingdom. There's just no way…"

Yin was on his feet now, not a little miffed. "So, you think you know more about it than me, huh? Then how about a little demonstration?" Yin went into a bending stance, recognizable as earthbending.

_If it's a fight he wants, it's a fight he'll get. _Aang spread into a bending stance as well, an Airbending one.

**Ooh, things get a little heated already? Is this boy really an artificial Avatar? Or is he just screwing with Aang? Next chapter: Another Avatar?**


	3. Chapter 3

**Yay for my first ever fanfiction! As this is my first attempt, please don't flame me. If the characters are a little OOC, don't blame me, I tried.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar. I wish I owned Avatar.**

CHAPTER 3: Another Avatar?

They both stood there for what seemed like an eternity, but was, in truth, about 45 seconds. Then Yin made the first move. He slammed one hand into the ground, sending a shockwave through the earth towards Aang, followed by his other hand, sending a rock spire flying in his direction as well. Aang shot himself into the air, avoiding the shockwave and flying rock. In the air, Aang began to spin. He locked both hands together while spinning, and smashed them into the ground the second he hit, sending out a huge wave of rock and earth at Yin. Yin brought up a cube of earth to encase him, and he weathered the blast.

Aang, confident that this kid was just pulling his chain, walked over to the cube to blast it away. He slapped his hands onto the wall, and the shield crumbled. Before he could do anything else, however, he was encased in water! _How on earth did he do that?! He shouldn't be able to do that!_ It didn't matter whether he should or should not be able to do it though, Aang was still trapped. Luckily, he still had a few tricks up his sleeve. He attempted to move his arm. He could._ This kid still has some learning to do… _Aang began moving his arms in a fluid motion, slowly at first, but then quicker and quicker. The water sprang from around him, and instead, surrounded him, taking the form of eight tentacles.

Yin just stood there and smiled. Insolently, he put his hand to his mouth and yawned. Then he cracked the muscles in his neck and bent down. He dashed towards Aang, propelled by… _The air? How can this boy know Airbending!? _Yin built up the elements in his hands for his ultimate strike. Fire and earth combined in one hand, while water froze in the other. One hand was trailing a torrent of magma, while the other was trailing a slab of ice. Quicker now he ran, dashing towards Aang with speed that would put any normal airbender to shame. Aang's defense didn't stand a chance, and even he knew it at this point. So now it was time for a tactic he rarely had the luxury of using.

"I surrender." Aang said while looking down. Yin froze in his tracks, and almost tripped over himself in surprise. He looked completely incredulous when he said, "You what?" "I surrender. You win. I can't beat you, because you do know all of the elements. You really are an artificial Avatar. I'm still not sure if I believe the how, but you are." Aang said this all with a sad face. _If I can't even beat this kid, how will I ever defeat the fire lord?_ A lightbulb went off in Aang's head. Sounding as casual as he possibly could, Aang made his best attempt at small talk. "So… what are you going to do now?"

Yin let the elements flow back into themselves, and fall to the ground. "I dunno. Where are you guys going?" Aang allowed himself a small smile before answering, "We're going to go defeat the Fire Lord." Then he flashed his characteristic grin, and asked, "So, want to come?" Yin laughed, and answered, "Yeah, sure. I've got nothing better to do. But first, you have to introduce me to your friends. I'll bet they're still asleep." Now it was Aang's turn to laugh. "Yeah, you'd be right about that. Sokka and Toph can sleep through anything!"

And so they walked back to the cave, to introduce the newest member of Team Avatar.

**Author's Note: I'm really really sorry it took me so long to update, but I had school, and I was partially grounded. All in all, I say I got it done pretty quick. The next chapter will be longer as well, I promise! Please review.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Yay for my first ever fanfiction! As this is my first attempt, please don't flame me. If the characters are a little OOC, don't blame me, I tried.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar. I wish I owned Avatar.**

CHAPTER 4: Introductions.

The walk back up the mountain seemed to be too long a route for the great Avatars, Yin and Aang, so they flew up. Somehow, Yin had pulled an airbender staff out from behind a completely random tree, much to Aang's surprise. "Where did you get one of those?" Aang asked once Yin spread the fins. Yin looked down and a sort of sad look crossed his eyes. "It was my father's." "Oh." Aang said, and they stood there for a couple of seconds in the accursed awkward silence. Aang broke it, of course. "So… have you ever fought against the fire nation?" A longer silence followed before Yin replied, "I was actually intended to be more of an engine of war then an avatar. I've seen things in the front lines of a battle that would make anybody cringe." He paused, sighed, and continued. "But that's all in the past. Let's get going already!" And he took off into the air. Aang exclaimed, "Hey, wait for me!" and followed as quickly as he could.

Somehow, they ended up in a race to the top, which Yin won. As he sat there, pretending to snore, Aang landed and said, "Hey, no fair. You got a head start!" Yin laughed, breaking his pantomime. "You just missed the signal. And that's too bad for you." Aang seemed to accept this, as he shrugged and walked into the mouth of the cave. Yin paused for a second, and thought to himself, _"so this is how I make friends..." _and with that, he walked in as well.

Katara was still a in that state of mind where you are asleep, yet awake at the same time. Aware of the world around her, her dream continued...

_---Dream---_

_She was flying. Not on Appa, but flying around, free as a bird, except that she was holding on to something... she looked over. Aang. He was flying as well, beaming from ear to ear. No glider or anything, just him with his arms spread, one hand holding hers. His head turned towards her, and he smiled. Then, fire came up out of nowhere to claim Aang in a raging inferno. She lost her grip, and fell. She fell for what seemed like hours until she looked below her and saw a ship. A fire Nation ship. She couldn't help but fall towards it. She thought that she was going to hit the cold metal floor any second, when all of a sudden, she stopped falling. A pair of strong hands gripped her from below. Her eyes, which were shut in anticipation of the bone-crushing landing, opened. Holding her was none other than the banished prince Zuko. Her expression switched immediately to fear and anger. She went to bend the water out of her pack when his lips met hers in a passionate embrace. She struggled, but there was nothing she could do. He let her down slowly, and continued the one sided kiss. She broke it, and punched him in the face as retalitation. He went sprawling back, and fell over. He jumped back up, and landed right in front of her, this time making her fall over. He spoke, but it wasn't the voice she was used to hearing, it was the voice of the Fire Lord, Ozai. "**You will pay for that, Water Peasant!"** He raised his hands above his head, and fire appeared between them. Then, he exploded in a bloody mess, and Aang landed in his place, covered in blood, for he had sent himself _THROUGH_ Zuko. His face was nothing but pure rage when he looked down at Katara, his arrows and eyes glowing with the power of the Avatar State. He let out a bellow that could be heard for miles, and brought his hand up. Fire appeared there, as well as earth, air, and water. They combined to make a deadly vortex, and he swung his hand down towards her. She screamed_

---Real World---

Katara screamed as she flung herself up. She literally catapulted out of bed and almost hit the cave ceiling before coming down. She was still screaming when she landed flat on her butt on the stone floor. She stopped screaming, but still spazzed a little, as if there was an excessive amount of bugs on her arms.Naturally, this woke Toph up, who came out of her earth tent looking her normal grouchy self. "Hey, Sugar Queen, shut up for once, will ya?" Toph yelled before turning her head towards Sokka and the mouth of the cave. "Aang is here... and he's brought a friend."

Yin walked into the cave in that odd, cautious walk you always use when you are in an unfamiliar person's home. Aang had no such inhibitions, and besides, he had heard Katara's screams. He jumped straight over to the waterbender and asked as he looked around, "Katara, what's wrong? What happened?" Katara just looked up at Aang with fearful eyes, then turned away a little and said, "Nothing, Aang. It was just a bad dream." This seemed to satisfy Aang, as he turned around and jumped back over to Yin. "Alright, Yin. Time for some introductions! Come on, meet the gang!" Aang began to walk over to the center of the cave, being careful to step over the sleeping Sokka. Yin was not so careful. WHAM! He landed right on his face and Sokka rolled over. Aang and Toph laughed. Yin began to laugh as well, then jumped when Sokka gave a snore. "Aang, why didn't you tell me you had a talking backpack?!" Aang looked beyond Yin at Sokka. True, he did look a bit like a backpack, seeing as how his head was inside of his sleeping bag. Aang laughed and replied, "That's not a backpack, that's Sokka. He just sleeps a lot, that's all. You'll get to meet him later." Aang motioned Yin to turn around, and said, "This is my Earthbending teacher, Toph." Toph gave a vauge nudge of the head in his direction and said, "Hey." before turning out towards the mouth of the cave once more. Yin gave a small bow and said, "Pleasure to meet you, Toph." Aang then turned to Katara, who was still looking a little flustered, and said, "And this is my best friend, Katara." Yin gave another small bow and said, "Pleasure to meet you, Katara." Katara nodded, and said, "It's nice to meet you too."

Toph twitched suddenly, her head turning a fraction to the left. She seemed to tense a bit, then suddenly exclaimed, "Well, nice to meet you as it is, we have some problems. The fire Nation troops are heading this way! We've got to move quick!" Aang suddenly sprang into action. He ran over to their things, flung his sleeping bag and their pack of food up onto Appa with a single throw, and jumped up onto Appa and grabbed the reins. Toph brought one foot down, sending a still sleeping Sokka flying onto Appa as well. Katara grabbed her things, and ran over to Appa, climbing up the tail. Toph brought her other foot down and was launched into the air, to land on Appa on her hands and knees. Aang looked over to Yin, and said, "Hey, are you coming or what?" A smile spread across Yin's face, and he jumped up to Appa's saddle as well. Aang yelled "Yip yip!" and then they were off. It was 6:45 AM.

It was going to be a long day.

**OMFG DAMN IT! I took so long to update! I AM SO SORRY! I was actually allowed on the computer today, thank god, otherwise I wouldn't have posted this til Wedensday! Oh, by the way, the Dream version of Aang is horribly OOC, but it was a nightmare, okay, so meh.**

**Next chapter: Fitting in. Expected Update time: Thursday.**


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